The One with Spring Cupcakes

Hooray! The sun was finally shining today and it was beautiful outside. Maybe spring is finally on its way around here. Or maybe it's a big trick and next week the weather will be gloomy and rainy again. Either way, the sun today makes it seem like a perfect day to share these spring-y flower cupcakes with you:

Here's all you need to make your own cupcake garden:

Cake Mix and Frosting (w/Box Tops!)

 

Flower-Shaped Cupcake Tin

 

Fun Sugar Sprinkles

The real fun in making these is the decorating part. 

I made 2 different types of flowers, with 3 different colors of sprinkles.

For the first kind, start by frosting the whole cupcake in white, then cover it with sprinkles. Next pipe on petals with the white frosting. Finish off the flower with a yellow round disc sprinkle for the center.

For the second kind, start with a white frosted cupcake, then pipe the flower outline just around the edge of the cupcake. Fill in the rest with sprinkles, leaving the middle free for a yellow disc sprinkle.

Enjoy your cupcakes and keep your fingers crossed that spring is really here!



Easter Chicks (Part 2)

While we were making the Easter chick cake pops...

Remember these little cuties we used for the Easter centerpiece?

Well, we had a few leftovers, so we came up with the idea to use them to make place cards.

I have to say, I think it was a pretty good idea - just look how cute they are!

These were also super easy to make.

Ready to hear how?

1. Melt some white almond bark and spread it on some wax paper in whatever shape you want. Make sure the shapes are big enough for whatever names you have to write on them!
2. While the white shapes are hardening, melt some yellow candy melts. Put the melted yellow candy into either a frosting squirter (is that the technical term?) or a plastic baggie with the corner tip cut off.
3. Pipe out the names onto the white pieces. We had to abbreviate a few people's names so that they would fit!
4. Place one with an Easter chick at each person's seat.

Bonus: The placecards look a little bit like a cracked egg!

(Just don't think too much about how the poor baby chick cake ball is sitting on top of a cracked egg!)

Easter Chicks (Part 1)

Happy Easter!

As part of our Easter dinner today, my sister and I made these adorable Easter chick cake pops to share.  I don't want to brag, but they really are super cute. And I can't take all the credit, because our idea came from Bakerella's cake pop recipe book. But still, just look at how sweet they are...

 Aren't they just the sweetest little things?!

I know after seeing how great they are, you'll all be wanting to make them for next year, so here's a quick little lesson on how to make your own...

You will need:



Cookie Dough Balls or Cake Balls
Yellow Candy Melts, Rainbow Chip Sprinkles, Any Size Lollipop Sticks 



 {For a lesson in cake ball making, check here. For cookie dough without eggs, just substitute milk.}

Six Easy Steps:

1. Melt the yellow candy chips, and dip your cake balls.
2. Let them harden all the way.
3. Using a toothpick and a little bit of the melted candy, attach 2 yellow rainbow chips on the sides for the wings.
4. Add an orange rainbow chip for the beak.
5. Choose 2 orange sprinkles (flowers, leaves, stars) and stick them on for the feet.
6. Use an edible marker pen to make the eyes, or put on 2 black rainbow chips.

To make a cute centerpiece, arrange them in a couple of jars and attach some cute Easter signs with ribbon. They will be festive decorations for your Easter table, a tasty dessert, and a good reminder of why we celebrate Easter!

The One With Nut-Butter Cookies

I came across this recipe from Gluten-Free Girl for super easy peanut butter cookies. Seriously, with only 4 ingredients, what could be easier? And they are gluten-free, but also SUPER tasty (for those of you who are gluten-free)!

To start, gather up the ingredients:

OR

1 c. Nut Butter: I used Peanut Butter for one batch, Cashew Butter for the other

1 c. sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
1 egg

Step 1: Mix the sugar and nut butter together. I used a wooden spoon instead of the mixer.

Step 2: Mix in the baking powder.

Step 3: Mix in the egg.

Step 4: Roll the dough into little balls and put them on the cookie sheet. The dough will be super sticky! I rolled into balls, then used a fork to smoosh them down and make the lines on the top. Then I sprinkled some sugar on top of each one.

Step 5: Bake for 10-12 minutes or until the edges are firm, but the middle is still a little soft. Place them on a wire rack to cool.

They are delicious just like this, but if you (like me) love the combination of chocolate and peanut butter, they are even better with a little bit of chocolate frosting drizzled on top! I just mixed a little bit of butter, powdered sugar, milk, vanilla, and a lot of fair trade baking cocoa until I had a good consistency and taste.

Step 6: Enjoy your tasty cookies - yum!



The One with the Microwave Mess

My mom got a beautiful new baking dish that can be used to make all sorts of things in the microwave - chicken, ribs, soup, cake...

A cake in the microwave! What a fabulous idea, and in only 10 minutes!

The other day we tried to make one. It sounded so easy...

All you do is gather up the ingredients to make a boxed cake mix...

 Mix it all up, and pour it into the baking dish...

Scoop out a can of frosting on top of the mixture...

Put the lid on...

 Pop it in the microwave for 10 minutes...

Then enjoy your warm, gooey, delicious cake!

Or at least that's what should have happened.
In real life, this is what happened...

We eagerly waited for the timer to go off...

And when it did, this is what we found...

I guess we weren't supposed to put the lid on.

There was such a mess that we could lick it right out of the microwave...

Here's how the finished product turned out...

 

Not too pretty, but it tasted pretty good!
And next time, we'll leave the lid off!